Dining In: Schmoozing with glassware designer Lolita Healy

Lolita Healy, founder of the successful gift brand Lolita, was surrounded by adoring fans when she appeared at Austin Liquors in Worcester to help launch her collection of “sexy, energetic Italian wines” that celebrate life the Lolita way.

Participants nibbled appetizers, sipped three sassy varieties of “Wines by Lolita” and schmoozed with the nationally acclaimed designer known for her hand-painted glassware that celebrates personalities, holidays and life's milestones.

But who knew that the CEO with the signature fashion-forward attitude and savvy style calls Uxbridge her home?

“People assume that as a designer I live in New York or California,” said Lolita, who moved to Uxbridge more than six years ago. “I love living in New England, and I have never been happier.”

Lolita is a registered trademark of Tracy Healy and Designs by Lolita. Healy prefers to be called Lolita, a name she was given as a young child.

“My grandmother was Lola, and I'm Lolita,” she said.

Lolita glassware is sold online ( www.designsbylolita.com), in specialty retail stores such as Hallmark Gold Crown, and at major retailers including Macy's. Somewhat of a rock star in the U.S. gift industry, Lolita has been featured in national magazines, wrote the book “Martini Moments,” and last year appeared on an episode of CNBC's “How I Made My Millions.”

Lolita graduated magna cum laude with a double major in marketing and fine arts from Mary Baldwin College in Virginia. She worked in advertising, and for Christian Dior and Donna Karan in the fashion industry.

She grew up in the South, where she lived until she met and married her current husband, Michael Healy, also a designer, who owns Artistic Decorative Hardware ( www.michaelhealy.com). Healy creates bronze plaques, doorbell ringers and other outdoor art.

The couple and Lolita's two daughters, Caroline and Mary Margaret, live on Stoneridge Farm, a property that encompasses 30 acres. Michael Healy designed and helped build the family home.

Lolita's story began in 2000 with a girls' night out in Memphis, Tenn.

“We all ordered a different martini and each drink reflected our personalities,” said Lolita, who explained that she was fascinated with the martini recipes, but thought the glasses looked naked.

That's when Lolita's imagination kicked in. She went home and started sketching and hand painting martini glasses, putting recipes underneath each glass. The Cosmo glass was her first.

“My friends thought I was crazy until they saw the glasses and began ordering them for friends and family,” said Lolita.

She started with 12 designs, and then things snowballed.

“I was a stay-at-home mom with two small children,” said Lolita. “It was taking me from a half hour to four hours to paint one glass, and I could only make 50 glasses in a day. It was overwhelming. There wasn't enough time in the day. I once left glasses in the oven too long, and they burned to a crisp.”

As time went on, Lolita got plenty of orders, especially at trade shows. The breaking point, she said, came when she took an order for 1,200 glasses.

“The first 200 went OK, but then I thought, 'How am I going to do 1,000 more? It's just me.' ”

She said her business turned around when she connected with Ray Markow at Santa Barbara Design Studio in Santa Barbara, Calif., who helped with licensing her brand. Lolita said she now receives a percentage of the wholesale price of products, and Markow helps find manufacturers.

Lolita works out of a studio in Pawtucket, R.I., with six full-time designers. She emphasized that she remains “totally hands on.” Once her designs are completed, they are shipped to a licensee who sends them to factories overseas where other painters replicate every brush stroke.

“Each glass is hand sketched and hand painted,” she said.

Today, a whole new generation of women collects Lolita glassware.

“It's exciting to see the daughters of my original collectors in the mix,” said the designer.

If you have any of Lolita's original glassware, hold on to it. Lolita said she saw an early Halloween martini glass, the Wicked Witch, priced at $500 on eBay.

The suggested retail price of a martini glass is around $25. Lolita Birthday collection accounts for 40 percent of the company's sales.

“My glassware makes people smile,” said Lolita. “We all love to celebrate special occasions. Fans, 21 to 89, send me extraordinary stories about themselves and their collections. Some have had rooms built to store all their glassware.”

There's even a Red Panties Club in Texas, named for the Lolita Red Panties martini glass, which is discontinued.

At home, Lolita enjoys spending time with family. She loves to cook and entertain, especially in the summer when she utilizes an outdoor deck and large, manicured backyard that can best be described as environmentally friendly.

She tests all her recipes in a spacious, modern kitchen, and proudly shows off the metal hardware and furniture her husband designed.

She would “love, love” to have her own TV food show, and also would like to take culinary classes at Le Cordon Bleu Paris, if she had the time.

This year, Lolita introduced new product packaging and in the near future she plans to have a line of gourmet food items that can be paired with her wines. Easy home entertaining is her thing, she said.

She also envisions fashion accessories.

“There's this little monster in me that can't stop,” said Lolita. “I enjoy making people happy, and I think my brand accomplishes that goal. But there's a lot more I want to do. I'm not afraid of change, or a challenge. I like to think of myself as a woman on the go.”